Ninety to lose jobs in DAC restructure

Davies Arnold Cooper is making a staggering 90 members of its Manchester and London staff redundant to concentrate on what it describes as its "two pillars of strength" - litigation and property/banking.

The move, first revealed on The Lawyer's website, Interactive Lawyer last Wednesday, is the most significant attempt to date by a medium-sized City law firm to compete with firms in the premier league.

Competitors in the market have described DAC's move as courageous. Michael Shaw, managing partner of Cobbetts, says: "This shows DAC has the courage to successfully refocus its business."

Tim Hamilton, managing partner of Garretts' Manchester office says DAC is retrenching back to its core strengths.

Garretts is said to be one of the firms in talks to take DAC's Manchester team - a claim Hamilton does not deny: "There are some good quality people there - and I'm interested in good quality people."



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